The Orlando shooting was the largest in U.S. history and the 18th of President Barack Obama’s tenure. It’s nuts these events are still happening and even crazier that nothing has happened in Washington to curtail or prevent the tragedies.
Democrats shouted at House Speaker Paul Ryan after a moment of silence in protest of the Republicans’ supposed refusal to tighten gun regulations. The Dems aren’t the only ones voicing their opposition as numerous talk show hosts have offered their viewpoints in the aftermath.
Samantha Bee and Conan O’Brien vehemently called for a ban on the sale of semi-automatic assault rifles to civilians. Stephen Colbert suggested to guest Bill O’Reilley that that issue is “easy access to high-capacity, rapid-fire weaponry”. Need proof? Philadelphia Daily News reporter Helena Ubinas was able to buy an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Monday in 7 goddam minutes.
Daily Show host Trevor Noah made the analogy of not tying his shoes, falling down, and getting hurt. How many times can we forget to tie our shoes, fall down, and get hurt? The South African implored all of us to not treat this like a normal occurrence. To not move on and forget, only to have it happen again.
Seth Meyers and John Oliver focused on the outpouring of support for the victims from the community, notably the long lines to donate blood that stretched over a mile. Cooper Anderson urged us to remember those we lost in the shooting.
It’s encouraging to know the good outnumber the bad – as Oliver stated – but it’s discouraging to realize that one man can take down 50 people in seconds. One semi-automatic rifle not only evens the odds, it skews the numbers astronomically. As this compilation video of Obama’s post-shooting speeches indicates, we’re in a really violent version of Groundhog Day…